Money can't buy Kiwi IT talent

IT professionals look away now… as there is no change in the national base median salary, which remains at $75k across New Zealand.

Yet despite the fact a more lucrative salary would be the thing that most workers would appreciate from their employer, 86% of IT professionals already consider their place of work to be a good one.

Absolute IT's annual Remuneration Report, drawing on data from over 27,500 entries, also claims the national base rate per hour remains at $80.

“The fact that the national median remuneration remains unchanged, yet a significant amount of employees are happy in their place of work can be put down to the fact that companies are thinking progressively and finding new ways to invest in their teams when they cannot offer higher remuneration,” says Grant Burley, director, Absolute IT.

Employee benefits

This shift in thinking can be seen in the report, which shows the key areas where change can be seen is in the additional benefits offered to employees.

Benefits include an increase in flexible working hours, company paid training, extra annual leave, health care subsidies, phone allowances, car allowances and stock options, with 55% of all IT staff receiving such benefits as part of their remuneration package.

Private/Public sector

Burley believes this is most important for smaller private sector companies to note (1-99 staff) because the median remuneration is up to 18% less in this sector, compared with others.

The industry insiders at Absolute IT believe that part of the reason for this is because smaller businesses in the start-up phase are unable to compete with larger private companies and the public sector remuneration offers.

“Our Remuneration Report suggests a host of other options that could be offered to ICT employees if your company is in the start-up phase, most of which may be easier for smaller companies to supply – such as; flexible working hours, additional annual leave and stock options,” Burley says.

The average remuneration in the public sector has decreased, but much less noticeably so at -3%, which can be seen as a reflection of recent government changes.

Capital gains?

Burley says Wellington still offers the highest median base remuneration at $81,000, against Auckland’s $75,000 with both Hamilton / Bay of Plenty and the Christchurch /South Island regions lower than this again ($69,000 and $70,000 respectively).

At present, the industries offering the highest remuneration nationally for IT professionals are utilities, financial services, legal, defence, telecommunications, transport & storage and professional services.

Regionally, Hamilton/Bay of Plenty has seen significant increases in its median base salary, up 6.9% since June 2012.

Hamilton city is driving this increase according to Burley, who insists the region is cementing itself as one of New Zealand’s fastest growing business centres.

“We know that remuneration is important when attracting the best ICT talent, however it is also clear that this can be off-set by the additional benefits an employer can offer,” he says.

Are you happy with your IT wage? Is there enough money in the industry? Tell us your thoughts below